British Phonographic Institute sues AllofMP3

The British Phonographic Institute is beginning legal action against Russian site allofmp3.com, as a result of approval won from the High Court in London. The site sells copyrighted material for as little as 3p per track, and uses the proceeds to pay licence fees to the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society. The BPI contends that the site is not officially recognised, and that furthermore no fees for the tracks that are sold find their way to the relevant UK copyright holders.

Currently, allofmp3.com is already under investigation in Russia, and is under the eye of similar bodies to the BPI in the United States. The Irish Recorded Media Association also supports the legal attack on allofmp3.com in addition to this.

"This is an important step forward in our battle against AllofMP3.com," BPI general counsel Roz Groome said. "We have maintained all along that this site is illegal and that the operator of the site is breaking UK law by making sound recordings available to UK based customers without the permission of the copyright owners."It should be noted, however, that even although the BPI case is likely to be successful, it is not likely that any decision in the UK would shut the site down even partially. Nevertheless, the BPI will serve Media Services, which runs Allofmymp3.com, with a writ in a matter of days.